User:Auric/Jacques Roulet

Jacques Roulet was a man known during his lifetime as the Werewolf of Angers.

Early life
Roulet was likely born in France. He had a brother, Jean.

Capture and Trial
In 1598, in a wild spot near Caude, (near Angers, France) some of the locals came upon the corpse of a boy of fifteen named Cornier, mutilated and covered in blood. Two wolves ran away as they approached the body. They gave chase, until they discovered a half naked man near where the tracks ended. He had long hair and a beard, and his hands were dyed in blood. His nails were long as claws, and were clotted with fresh gore. Shreds of flesh were cling to the nails and they immediately thought this to be human flesh. He was arrested on the spot as the murderer of the boy.

In court, he admitted under question that he was "able to transform himself into a wolf by means of a salve given to him by his parents" (Sidky 227, 228). He also said that with the aid of his brother Jean and cousin Julien, who were also shape-shifters, he had killed and devoured many women and children.

""What is your name, and what your estate?" asked the judge, Pierre Hérault.

"My name is Jacques Roulet, my age thirty-five; I am poor, and a mendicant."

"What are you accused of having done?"

"Of being a thief--of having offended God. My parents gave me an ointment; I do not know its composition."

"When rubbed with this ointment do you become a wolf?"

"No; but for all that, I killed and ate the child Cornier: I was a wolf."

"Were you dressed as a wolf?"

"I was dressed as I am now. I had my hands and my face bloody, because I had been eating the flesh of the said child."

"Do your hands and feet become paws of a wolf?"

"Yes, they do."

"Does your head become like that of a wolf-your mouth become larger?"

"I do not know how my head was at the time; I used my teeth; my head was as it is to-day. I have wounded and eaten many other little children; I have also been to the sabbath.""

The lieutenant criminel (police lieutenant) of Angers condemned Roulet to death for werewolfism, murder, and cannibalism; however, on appeal to the Parliament of Paris, Roulet was committed to an insane asylum in Saint Germain des Prés, for two years because the authorities in Paris deemed his confession to be unreliable on account of his feeble-mindedness (Sidky 227, 228).